EPA eases pollution rules under Trump; Texas air quality at risk

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced 31 deregulatory actions within President Trump’s first 100 days in office, targeting federal pollution standards from methane emissions to the legal framework obligating the EPA to regulate climate-changing pollution. Zeldin called the actions the agency’s “greatest day of deregulation.”

The EPA also froze research grants, shrank its workforce, and removed references to climate change and environmental justice from its websites. Environmental advocates said the moves signal the EPA’s new direction will prioritize deregulation over public health protections.

Texas, the nation’s top oil and gas producer and home to the Dallas, Houston, and Fort Worth metropolitan areas, faces particular exposure to the rollbacks because state environmental officials have shown limited interest in strengthening enforcement as federal standards weaken. Conservation groups fear the changes will bring higher pollution and health risks to communities near industrial sites.

The rollbacks affect Texas as the state was in the process of designating major metropolitan areas as air-quality nonattainment zones under stricter federal pollution standards. Environmental advocates fear the regulatory retreat will slow progress on air quality improvements in regions with higher respiratory illness rates.

Methane Rules Put on Pause

Methane, a greenhouse gas that traps heat far more efficiently than carbon dioxide over the short term, accounts for roughly 16% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The energy sector is the largest source of methane emissions in the U.S., particularly in Texas, the nation’s top oil and gas producer.

In 2024, the Biden administration finalized rules requiring oil and gas operators to reduce methane emissions from wells, pipelines, and storage facilities. The rule targeted leaks, equipment failures, and routine flaring of excess natural gas at wellheads. States were required to develop implementation plans, but Texas has yet to do so.

The Trump EPA extended the state implementation deadline to January 2027, an 18-month postponement. Texas remains without state rules to capture escaping methane emissions from energy infrastructure.

Neighboring New Mexico has imposed stricter methane emission rules that require operators to detect and repair methane leaks and ban routine venting and flaring. Environmental Defense Fund data analysis showed these regulations have reduced methane emissions in the New Mexico portion of the Permian Basin—the oil-rich region spanning West Texas and southeastern New Mexico—to half that of Texas, despite New Mexico doubling production since 2020.

Adrian Shelley, Texas director of Public Citizen, said the methane rule represented a rare moment of alignment between environmental groups and oil and gas producers. “I think the fossil fuel industry generally understood that this was the direction the planet and their industry was moving,” Shelley said. “Uniform EPA rules provided regulatory certainty for changes operators saw as inevitable.”

A Retreat From Soot Standards

Fine particulate matter, known as PM 2.5 and called by researchers the deadliest form of air pollution, is one of six pollutants regulated under the Clean Air Act. In 2024, the EPA strengthened air rules for particulate matter by lowering the annual limit from 12 to 9 micrograms per cubic meter. It was the first update since 2012 and targeted mounting evidence that particulate pollution is linked to premature death, heart disease, asthma, and other respiratory illnesses.

After the rule was issued, Republican-led states filed suits to revert to the weaker standard. Texas filed a separate suit asking to block the rule’s expansion. In a court filing, the Trump EPA asked a federal appeals court to vacate the stricter standard, bypassing the traditional notice and comment administrative process.

Under the 9 microgram standard, parts of Texas including Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, and Texarkana were in the process of being designated as nonattainment areas. When finalized, such designations would have triggered a legal requirement for the state to develop a plan to clean up the air.

That process stalled after Trump took office. Governor Greg Abbott submitted state air-quality designations to the EPA in February, but the agency has not yet acted on those designations, according to Richard Richter, a spokesperson at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Shelley with Public Citizen said the PM 2.5 rule would have delivered the greatest health benefit of any EPA regulation affecting Texas, particularly through reductions in diesel pollution from trucks. “I still hold out hope that it will come back,” he said.

Dismantling Climate Protections

The Trump EPA is dismantling the federal architecture for climate regulation. Among the proposals is eliminating the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, which requires power plants, refineries, and oil and gas suppliers to report annual emissions. The proposal has drawn opposition from both environmental groups and industry.

Colin Leyden, Texas state director and energy lead at the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, said eliminating the program could hurt Texas industry. Without mandatory emissions data, international buyers of natural gas cannot measure how much methane pollution is associated with the product, Leyden said. That makes it harder to judge how “climate-friendly” it is, which international buyers are increasingly demanding.

“This isn’t just bad for the planet,” Leyden said. “It makes the Texas industry less competitive.”

The administration also proposed rescinding the Endangerment Finding, the 2009 legal and scientific foundation that obligates the EPA to regulate climate-changing pollution under the Clean Air Act. The EPA also announced it will stop calculating how much money is saved in health care costs as a result of air pollution regulations that reduce particulate matter and ozone.

Leyden said tallying the dollar value of lives saved when evaluating pollution rules has been foundational to the EPA since its creation. “That really erodes the basic idea that [the EPA] protects health and safety and the environment,” he said.

Texas’ Limited Enforcement Capacity

Richard Richter, a spokesperson for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said the state takes protecting public health and natural resources seriously and acts consistently and quickly to enforce environmental laws when violations occur.

Cyrus Reed, conservation director of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, said Texas’ limited state environmental enforcement capacity leaves the state vulnerable to the federal rollbacks. “If we were a state that was open to doing our own regulations there’d be less impact from these rollbacks,” Reed said. “But we’re not.”

Reed added that with the federal retreat, “now we have an EPA that isn’t interested in enforcing its own rules.”